TIGA welcomes strong creative industries growth

TIGA, the network for games developers and digital publishers and the trade association representing the video games industry, has welcomed the latest figures which show creative industries are making a record-breaking contribution to the UK economy.

New Government figures show that the creative industries are now worth £92 billion to the UK, which accounts for more than 5 per cent of the UK economy’s Gross Value Added (GVA). As a whole, the sector grew by 7.6 per cent over the 2015-2016 period, twice the rate of the wider UK economy in terms of GVA. Since 2010, the sector has grown 44.8 per cent.

Much of this growth was driven by the video games and computer services sub-sector, which saw a 11.4 per cent increase in GVA from 2015 to 2016, and a 52.8 per cent increase since 2010. This outstripped growth in publishing, fashion, and film and TV.

TIGA successfully campaigned for the introduction of Video Games Tax Relief and welcomed the Government’s commitment to extending the scheme. This vital measure, coupled with the UK Games Fund and the Creative Industries Clusters Programme, will help the video games industry build on its impressive growth and world-leading reputation.

Dr Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA, said:

‘Such impressive growth underlines the importance of video games to the creative industries and the UK economy as a whole. Our video games industry is robust, growing and innovative – it is truly a British success story.

“Our successful video games industry has the potential to grow still further. If we introduce TIGA’s proposed Games Investment Fund, establish a British Games Institute, invest in our home-grown talent and enable our studios to access highly skilled workers from overseas, then we can look forward to building on our strong performance and ensuring that our industry continues to thrive.”

TIGA is the network for games developers and digital publishers and the trade association representing the video games industry. Our core purpose is to strengthen the games development and digital publishing sector. We achieve this by campaigning for the industry in the corridors of power, championing the industry in the media and helping our members commercially.

TIGA is intent on building an enduring organisation which continually improves; a business that will make a significant impact on the games industry and so benefit our membership and the wider economy. Since 2010, TIGA has won 24 business awards, an achievement which reflects TIGA’s drive for improvement and to meet best practice.